Farmington, Harrison clash on opening night of 2014 football season Thursday; North will play at Pontiac

The first night of a new high school football season will feature a much-anticipated intra-city battle between Farmington Public School rivals Thursday.

Farmington will play host to Harrison in a 7 p.m. game that has the potential to be a classic matchup. Each side has talent, an array of outstanding players and plenty of team speed.

“It’s become a rivalry,” Farmington coach John Bechtel said. “We’d like it to be more of a rivalry if we can win some more. The rivalry would probably get better, because I don’t think we’ve beaten them in four years.

“I know they graduated a lot, but they have some fine players coming back. They have great linebackers. The quarterback is incredibly dangerous; they’ve got some great receivers and some good players up front.”

“But we’re looking forward to it, and we’re looking forward to playing them in week one.”

The Falcons won back-to-back meetings in 2008-09, but the Hawks have won the last five times, including a playoff game in 2009.

The teams played in Week 8 last year after Farmington’s roster had been depleted by injuries. Harrison posted a 46-0 victory and has outscored the Falcons in the last five games, 199-26.

The Falcons hope to stay free of the injury bug this year, have a more productive season and reverse a 2-7 finish a year ago.

“It’s was one of those things that happened,” Bechtel said. “By Week 7, we had eight of 11 defensive starters out. We played short-handed and that’s the nature of our game. The next guy has to be ready.

“It’s been a bit of a reality here for six or seven years. Going into the playoffs, we haven’t been healthy any year. We’ll keep our fingers crossed this year.

“We hope to get a little lucky and catch some breaks along the way. And you hope your kids stay healthy. It’s a tough sport and a tough league we play in. You do the best you can and coach them up.”

Unlike recent years, the game will have no impact on division standings or determining an eventual champion, however.

Farmington has moved down to the Blue Division in an OAA realignment. Harrison remains in the White Division, having finished a game behind first-place Southfield.

“It would have been a shame if we weren’t able to play Harrison,” Bechtel said. “It would have been awful. It would have been a disservice to the community.”

Farmington’s lower enrollment was the reason it dropped to the Blue. The Falcons were competitive in the White over time, going 3-1 versus Oxford and 2-2 against Southfield, Oak Park and Adams.

“We played really good football,” Bechtel said. “We were as good as anybody in that four-year stretch in that league. We’re going to miss those rivalries and some of those big games.

“At the same time, our enrollment is down. In our lower programs, the numbers are not where they should be. They decided that’s where we needed to be. We’re happy to secure Harrison in the Week 1 crossover.”

With their talent, number of returning players and potential, the Falcons have to be one of the favorites in the Blue Division. Last year’s champion, Seaholm, is now in the White.

“We don’t know a lot about the Blue other than Lathrup (formerly in the White) is in there,” Bechtel said.

“Avondale is a good program; Groves is coming off a big year. Bud Rowley’s son took over at Hazel Park, so they’re going to be much improved.

“We know there are really good athletes in this league, but we don’t know enough about the day-to-day operations and exactly what we’re going to face.”

The change will be good for the Falcons if it means they can get through the regular season in good shape and be healthy going into the playoffs, he added.

“Then it will all be worthwhile, because that’s really been our issue,” Bechtel said. “Staying healthy and lack of depth have been our issues, being a smaller school facing bigger schools.

“If that helps us in some way, that will be great. We’re going to respect everybody we play. We know they have great coaches down here, and we look forward to getting going.”

Farmington’s goals and expectations haven’t changed because of the change in divisions, Bechtel added.

“We expected to be at the top of the division when we were in the OAA White,” he said. “Our goal is to play hard, play disciplined football and get better every week. And that doesn’t change regardless of who we play.”

Farmington and Harrison have experienced quarterbacks who can run and throw, and each side has a lot of fast, talented athletes at the skill positions.

Both have college offers on the table. Ferris State would like to have Shaw, who probably will be a kick/punt returner and slotback at the next level, according to Harrison coach John Herrington.

“We’ve got kids who can run, and we have pretty good skilled kids,” Bechtel said. “We just have to find a way to get them the ball in space.

“If we can’t do that, then we have to find a way to knock somebody over and try to create a seam for them to run through.”

Raiders on the road

North Farmington will open Thursday night in an OAA crossover game with Pontiac at Wisner Stadium.

The teams have played twice since Pontiac merged Central and Northern high schools into one, and North won both meetings.

The Raiders posted a 9-7 victory in the 2009 season opener, and they won again in final game of the 2012 regular season, 24-7.

While North has moved out of the OAA Blue Division to the White, Pontiac has dropped two levels from the Red to the Blue after going 0-9 last year.

“They’re a good, athletic team, but we don’t know much about them,” North coach Todd Schultz said, adding he and his staff would learn more about Pontiac at its preseason scrimmage.

“Everybody is looking forward to their first game, and we’re heading off to Wisner Stadium, which is always a great experience with the concrete stands, the railroad tracks and the woods,” Schultz said. “It’s fun to play out there. It’s turf now.”

Schultz added it’s always refreshing and exciting to start a new campaign.

“You’re working with kids coming back and new kids,” he said. “It’s a special time of year. It’s a great team sport; I love it. The Raider coaching staff loves it. We’re excited.”

North was 5-4 last year and the Raiders hope to build on that. Coming from the Blue Division, they might be underestimated in the White and could be a surprise team with experienced players at key positions.

“We’d like to fly under the radar,” Schultz said. “We’re just going to do what we do and control what we can control.

“We’ll see how that all works out. We’re going to be prepared and do the best we can.”

Harrison outlook

With a lot of returning talent, the Hawks will have another solid team and should be in the running again for the OAA White championship.

They probably should have won the division last year, finishing one game behind Southfield. Two missed extra points and a last-minute touchdown pass enabled the host Blue Jays to pull out a 20-19 victory.

“Southfield has nine guys committed to scholarships, and Oak Park has most if its starters back,” Herrington said. “Those games are going to be real battles.

Harrison will have a short week when it plays at Southfield on Saturday, Sept. 27, and plays host to Rochester Adams five days later on Thursday, Oct. 2.

“It is what it is,” Herrington said. “We’ll have our work cut out for us. Oak Park and Southfield can match up with our talent. Adams is always so well coached with good schemes that they’re a tough team to beat.

“I think Seaholm lost a lot of guys, but they beat Southfield last year and who knows? They could be pretty good.”

Farmington is first and foremost on the minds of the Hawks this week, however.

“I think Farmington is going to be much improved,” Herrington said. “They had a lot of injuries they had to overcome last year.

“It’s a rivalry game. Opening up with them is good. We wanted to play them. People will be fired up for the start of football season.”

Offense stays the same

In addition to a lot of new players, Clarenceville has a new offensive coordinator in Allen Garrant, a former quarterback for the Trojans.

Lloyd Slabuagh, who called the plays during Clarenceville’s 11-1, championship season, is now at Farmington High. Garrant was on the staff last year, too.

“Allen has been with me the last five years and was on the sideline last year,” head coach Ken Fry said. “He was the one who relayed plays in for Lloyd, who liked to be up top (in the pressbox).

“He had a feel for what was going on. We’re running basically the same offense, because (quarterback) Jake (Kubiak) is very comfortable with it and he performed very well.

“Now we’ll see who can call the better plays. Lloyd had a very good offense set up, so we can’t see changing something that was working. It fits our kids.”

The Trojans won the WWAC Red Division title in their first year as a league member and advanced to the semifinals of the Division 5 state tournament. They open Friday night at home with Ferndale.

“I keep telling (the players) we have a gigantic bull’s-eye on our backs,” Fry said. “I’m trying to impress upon them how much better we have to get, starting in the off season and all the way through.”

Clarenceville has just five returning players in Kubiak, James Hill, Elijah Bean, Lusire Boyd and Santoy Reese.

“They’re all seniors,” Fry said. “If they can keep their cool and spread that to the other kids, maybe it will just go through the program. I think the kids will step up.”